Apologies for the huge gap in posts.. Moving to Germany has been fun, exhausting, and blogging should have happened, but it didn't. meh...
Good news!!:
Dallin is here.
Course, if you're on Facebook, not only is this not news, but it's likely old regurgitated OMG when is she going to stop talking about that new baby?! kind of news. Well, I hate to tell ya, but we're still pretty enthralled, and will likely keep talking about him more and more.
In fact, this post will largely be about him. But not for the reasons you might think. I guess we'll start with the general basics and stats.
Dallin was born at 9:35pm at 7lbs 7 oz, 18.8 inches long.
Dallin was an induction birth- or well... German style induction. I needed Dallin to come early* so that I personally didn't break. (For those of you who are curious, google Symphasis Pubis Dysfunction, and toss in a little bit of hip dysplasia for good measure. I literally was about to split my pelvis- which makes taking care of my hoard of children rather hard...) So we induced.
Or we tried to.
Really.
5 days. The induction took 5 long, somewhat painful, grueling, no air conditioned days. Because Germany doesn't believe in AC... I think I've mentioned this... many times... but still, the point remains. It's August. Without AC... I digress.
5 days.
4 rounds of cervical gel
4 rounds of oxytocin (not as potent as stateside pitocin, but eventually will get the job done)
3 rounds of antibiotics (which were totally unnecessary and made me very mad)
4 pushes
2 full loops of umbilical cord around the neck
Anyways, there are more details, but thats besides the point. Dallin is here.
On day 6 in the hospital (day 1 for D), they left us alone. It was heaven. We were allowed lots and lots of bonding time, and weren't bothered with nurses every two hours like you normally are in the states.
On day 7 in the hospital, we did all of our newborn screenings- or most of them, Dallin wasn't very cooperative for the hearing test. Well, he passed them all, except for one. Turns out, Dallin has a hole in his heart. Officially, it's known as ASD (Atrial Septum Dysfunction). From what we know, it's not a large hole (or they would have scheduled surgery already), it's somewhat common (1 in 3 kids will have these holes present after birth), and most of these holes will close on their own in the first 3 months of life. Now, with Dallin, he's still turning blue in his hands, feet, and around his mouth. These are all typical of his condition, and after researching the heck out of it, I just try to be aware of his blue moments and sit him up a little higher to help his heart a bit more. I find it is also a blessing that we are a baby wearing family- keeps him upright a bit more, and keeps him close to one of us most of the time for parental comfort measures. I'm honestly doing my best not to freak out about it, but we will be keeping him home more than we have with any of the other kids (except perhaps Marilyn, who's own first couple months were taxing bc of an underdeveloped jaw muscle that liked to allow her jaw to close her airway if she was laid on her back. She was my first blue child.) Especially with the cooler weather coming, I'm doing my best to keep the germs, colds, and everything else from him until we know which direction his heart is going to go. We have a follow up in November to see if the hole closes on its own, or if it's going to require surgery (Catheter procedure most likely). We left the hospital that day (I HAD to get out of there ;) ) and have had a good first week at home.
On Sunday, I had Chad and our Home Teacher Dave give Dallin a blessing. This calmed my crazy a little bit, and I'm grateful for willing righteous men who will drop whatever they're doing to give my son a blessing!
I thought the heart issue was going to be all we had to worry about- and it still might be, but today, it's not.
Yesterday, we went back to the hospital to try and complete his hearing test again. Long story short, Dallin failed two separate tests, and is going to see a specialist for further testing and or confirmation on whether or not Dallin has a hearing issue. I am also trying not to worry about this. I outsourced my motherly concerns to my moms group, and had some good positive feedback on the accuracy (or lack thereof) of the newborn screenings. I was telling Chad about the tests, and in demonstration, clapped loudly next to Dallins' ear (while he was awake and alert), No reaction. He doesn't respond to any sound stimulation (yet), doesn't turn his head towards us if we're talking to him. Now, he's only a week old- so much of my concerns may fall into the 'he's still a new baby' category and time will cure all concerns. But for today, I am worried. And can only admit it because my husband keeps looking at me all deadpan like when I'm trying to downplay my crazy for my mother- he's right, I'm worried. But, I do know a couple things:
I took years and years of American Sign Language in college.
I kept all my books.
We use sign language with Marilyn (who doesn't speak, but can hear and understand just fine).
If Dallin is deaf, it is not the end of the world.
Technology is amazing.
But it does stress me out a little bit. We have always had a bit of nail biting before the hearing tests for all of our kids as we have a large genetic disposition towards hearing complications. Chad is partially deaf in one ear, and there is further family history of deafness on his side of the gene pool. I thought I was mentally prepared to handle this particular complication, but I'm finding that my brain is capable of 'all talk,' and that the reality of such a situation was lost on me until this moment.
We'll know more in the coming months, both for Dallin's heart and Dallin's ears. I explain all this in an attempt to ease my own crazy, but also for the friends and family who will read this help understand why I am being that crazy mom. There are great doctors here, and even better surgeons (we know this from first hand experience with Ben!). I'm not concerned with the care we will get, because I know it will be top notch, but the daily challenges that come with this new bundle of joy feel a little heavier than I can carry today.
... And then Chad reminded me who this child is. This child is the 'Seeker of the Living God.' Literally. His middle name translates to this profound statement, and I'm glad for the reminder. This childs' purpose at this moment, is to help his parents to seek the Lord more- He's managed to have his stubborn mother ask for a priesthood blessing, and gotten his father to perform it. So far, I do believe he is living up to his name.
And now you know.
In other news, Sariah just turned 5, and will start kindergarten on Tuesday. It's hard to tell who is more excited, me or her...
Ben is now 3, has regained full use of his finger (short story- he stuck a window key into a 220volt German electrical socket and blew a hole in his hand that required surgery to fix- this happened our first week in our new German home. Nothing like learning the hospital system here in the beginning!)
Marilyn is almost 2 (October), is as big as Ben, and thinks she is the boss. As mentioned above, she doesn't speak (English), but is very smart and has two chatter box older siblings to talk for her. (We've been evaluated for speech therapy and don't qualify yet because she doesn't have any other developmental delays. Sign language has helped a bunch, because she can speak with her hands!).
We travel around this beautiful country as often as we can afford, and have a million pictures that need to be uploaded. I'll try to do better about blogging, but lets be honest here: I'm that crazy mother of a bunch of little kids. And I wouldn't change a thing.
Love from Germany~
A
P.S. Chad say 'Hi!'
If you want pictures.. well, that would be an extra step in the blogging process.. so join FB, or IG... or hope you're one of my parents and get daily text messages full of #dailydallin posts.
*Early: Dallin was officially due on August 25, and came on Aug 20. Early is relative right?!? We originally went in to be induced August 1, and were turned away due to the hospital OB overriding my personal OB (bc my OB doesn't actually deliver babes anymore). We went to the 'local' American hospital after the first failed attempt, and were turned away once again, but only because they hadn't had me as a patient for the pregnancy, and weren't willing to take over at that point in time.
The doctor wrote us a referral for the German hospital that housed us when Ben electrocuted himself last year, Uni-Mainz. It's a wonderful hospital with state of the art testing. We'll see if the insurance will let us do that! For now though, we have appointments at the American hospital for his hearing at the beginning of December. Hopefully we have more answers soon, but for now, we are sure enjoying this 97% happy baby who doesn't find it necessary to scream at us all the time ;) Also, this is what I see all day long: